1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to the operator""s station of an off road work vehicle having a HVAC module located in the operator""s station that can be readily accessed from outside the operator""s station to service and maintain the HVAC module.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Most off road work vehicles are provided with heating ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems to provide operator comfort in a variety of climatic conditions. These HVAC systems may be of the series reheat variety. That is total system airflow passes through both the cooling heat exchanger (evaporator core) and the heating heat exchanger (heater core) all of the time. Temperature control is accomplished by cycling the compressor clutch and/or opening the engine coolant control valve. Partial reheat air mix systems have also been used where air blend doors are used to control the flow of air to be conditioned across the heat exchangers.
In some installations, the air conditioning component of the HVAC system has been located in the roof structure of the work vehicle and the heating component of the HVAC system has been located on the floor in the operator""s station. This can lead to the duplication of components. It has also been proposed to have modular HVAC systems located on the floor of the work vehicle with air vents directing conditioned air to the roof structure and to floor vents. The roof structure is also provided with vents that direct the conditioned air downwardly along the sides of the vehicle and towards the operator.
Access doors have been provided on the exterior of work vehicles to provide access to air filters through which ambient air is drawn. This allows an operator to clean or replace the filter from the outside the operator""s compartment. By keeping the dirty filter outside the operator""s compartment this source of dirt is eliminated. These filters may be located on the battery box of grapple skidders. The battery box having an access door for the batteries and the filter that is located below the rear window of the skidder. This access door is hingedly coupled to the vehicle along a transverse axis.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a HVAC module that can readily serviced from outside the operator""s station to which it is associated.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a compact HVAC module that forms part of the finished exterior wall of a console located in the operator""s compartment.
The operator""s station of an off road work vehicle is provided with an operator""s compartment having a control console having a console wall with a finished exterior surface to which the operator is exposed. A compact HVAC module is located in the operator""s compartment and is provided with an exterior wall having a finished exterior surface to which the operator is exposed that is identical to the finished exterior surface of the console wall. The HVAC module extends rearwardly from the finished exterior wall of the console to the rear of the operator""s compartment. The HVAC module extends rearwardly below the rear window of the operator""s station. The main components of the HVAC module (blower, evaporator core and heater core) can be serviced, maintained and replaced from outside the operator""s station through an access opening formed in the rear wall below the rear window. The HVAC module provides conditioned air to the operator""s compartment. By locating the access opening below the rear window the HVAC module can be more easily serviced. The access opening is provided with an access door that is hingedly coupled to the operator""s station. The door is mounted to hinges defining a transverse hinge axis.